Thursday, 28 November 2013

That time of year again, when it comes to essay writing I get real specific when it comes to selecting tunes, most of the time anything with lyrics unless I've heard it a ton just distracts me. And cliche though it may be I usually resort to my usual warp-centric experimental electronic.

El Lissitsky - Proun 1C (1919)

Leading the charge is another piece from μ-Ziq I usually skip cos it's always at the top of my alphabetical list. Lunatic Harness may not get as much press as tunes from AFX and the like but its's just as sweet. The album might peter out towards the end but it has killer tunes like this to back it up.

If you've not checked out Wisp's reworkings of Aphex Twin's legedary Selected Ambient Works Vol. II I highly recommend it, he takes the original vibe and completely reworks it into something a little more like AFX's usual output. Here's a two in one reworking of Z Twig and Blue Calx.

And finally bringing it all back down, a lush ambient piece from Autechre. I'm missing out on some lovely ambient pieces just 'cos I don't really like the direction they took post Tri Repetae, but what I do have of their ambient work is nothing short of sublime.

A lil' remix from Stenchman, it's from around 2010 so it sounds a little dated in comparison to his newer stuff but it sounds real nice. Stench keeps it fairly simple and I think that works in its favour, a trend he's carried on with his remixes since.

A real old school addition here, I threw it in my Play Music app about a month ago and finally popped up on shuffle. Another tune I had a terrible 128kbps rip of from limewire back when that was my go-to source for tunes. Fortunately I did replace it in time, and it still sounds sweet.

Friday, 22 November 2013

Now that my email is open and on the net, my inbox is always flooded with artists looking to get their names out. Believe it or not I listen to every single one of them, every so often I'll try and feature one.

The artist from my inbox now is a 19 year old Chicago artist named Evan Ireland. Obviously I have a soft spot in my heart for Chicago producers and this one seems promising. He just dropped an EP recently, titled Kept. The EP is very "burial-esque" with heavy atmosphere and time stretched vocals. If I have a complaint it's that it almost seems to heavy with the vocal samples, and some of the tracks really don't go anywhere.

The title track was the highlight though. It's direct, foggy and the vocals are kept to a minimum. I had flashbacks to "Bowls" from Caribou's Sun towards the end in the best possible way.

Looking over my previous posts I realised I'd neglected one of my favourite tracks of all time! The Salt City Orchestra remix of Marshall Jefferson's Mushrooms is brilliant start to end and is arguably better than the original. Turns out I only posted the cut down version from Miss Kittin's Radio Caroline compilation. Well in that case here's the full length for you to enjoy!

And while I was there I realised I haven't dished up much of Kittin's solo work. She's only got three albums to her name but they're all consistently quality; like she said herself on the CD of her debut "I was sick of there being more 'Featuring Miss Kittin' records than Miss Kittin records".

That's not to discount her efforts with The Hacker mind, their first album remains a cult classic, featuring electroclash anthem Frank Sinatra. While the follow up Two might not have had the same impact or the rough feel of the first, it's still got killer examples of what happens when Kittin and Hacker collide. Look 'em up sometime.

And finally, the track that put Kittin on my radar in the first place when it hit the UK Dance charts sometime in 2002. After all these years I still love it, her lyrical delivery and the instrumentation just merge in the most perfect way. If you can track it down, the Or album is a real gem of the era.

Wednesday, 20 November 2013

Along with most electronic music, I'm quite into hip-hop/rap 'beats'. Not always the typical beats, not the Lil Wayne type beats. I was introduced to the whole genre by a rapper friend of mine, and I'm grateful. I enjoy electronic music and beats. I love it when the two collide.

Enter Mike Volpe, aka Clams Casino. With a new twist on what was a stagnant time for hip hop beat producers, this guy is making serious waves, and well deserved waves too.
One of his first EPs, Rainforest (EP, Tri Angle Records), is largely overlooked, though I have trouble understanding why. With a beautifully controlled delay, often with just the right amount of distortion, master crafted beats, and lots of vocal 'oohs & aahs', Volpe has crafted his own style of instrumentals in a time of great staleness.

Natural, the first track off the Rainforest EP is the archetypal tune from Clams Casino.

** I still haven't worked out the typical Ilictronix embedding, so for now I'll have to make do with YouTube videos and Soundcloud embeds.

The next track is just one of my favourites from Volpe. I simply find it relaxing. I find it to be the perfect start to a day, or the perfect end to a day. That smooth vocal catches my ear every time. Although this track is surprisingly lacking in distortion, all of his tunes seem to have a type of aural watermark that just stamps it as a Clams Casino work.

Along with his tunes and producer capabilities being used by many big names in rap such as Mac Miller, Lil B and A$AP Rocky, Volpe has released a few remixes and two mixtapes; Instrumentals and Instrumentals 2. They definitely have a similar sound, and it may be seen as repetitive, but there are definitely stand outs in there. I won't post anymore, simply to save on YouTube links.

Apologies for the YouTube/Soundcloud links, next post I'll have that embedding downpat.

Tuesday, 19 November 2013

Winter is here, and I hope you all found your snow bunnies to snuggle up with. Play these around your special someone and I guarantee things will get hotter than a Mexican summer. Like any good wingman I want to get all of you some action, so here are some songs to add to your sexytime playlists.

The first track is from Canadian Cyril Hahn. Not to be out grooved by fellow Canadian The Weeknd, Hahn has been putting out some stellar remix's and building buzz. His mixes for the bbc are responsible for creating a European baby boom. He dropped the Perfect Form EP this year and it's a great mood setter. The title track is an sexy piece of future r&b that sounds like something Jamie xx could conceive a child to. It also has Shy Girls singing the vocals.

Speaking of shy girls, he also dropped an EP this year titled Timeshare. It's a pretty decent album but the first track off it is "must listen". It's a slower groove that still bumps hard enough to break the ice with the coldest of partners.

Thursday, 14 November 2013

I was lucky enough to have one of my favourite artists Nightmares On Wax drop by local record store Jumbo for a DJ set. It's the first time he's been back in Leeds for around 5 years, I wasn't able ot get tickets for the event he was playing that night, so I thought this would be the next best thing. And I was right.

I'd seen interviews and the like, but I didn't really know what to expect. Good news is that N.O.W is every bit as chill as his tunes and stuck around to chat to us before AND after his set. An all round nice bloke who makes equally nice tunes. Here's a couple favourites from his newest LP Feelin' Good starting with sultry number Master Plan.

And a more jazzy number to follow that's up to the ususal N.O.W standard. It's not dethroned Smokers Delight as my favourite release of his, but it's a worthy addition to the catalogue. And besides, he was nice enough to sign my copies of Smokers Delight, Carboot Soul and the newest one Feelin' Good, so I can't complain!

Finally, the soothing penultimate track There 4U. The vibe of the album is completly nailed on this one.As the man said on his radio interview not long after, it's his most personal album so far and is pretty much what he's always wanted to make, and it really shows. The album came out late September, check it out if you're looking for positive chilled out hip hop vibes!

Tuesday, 12 November 2013

The first winter snow of the new year fell yesterday in the great city of Chicago. Ever since I moved here over the summer I knew this day would come; the season everyone has been warning me about, "The Chicago winter". I'm not even a full month into it and already it's absolutely miserable. Canadian Drone and Ambient artist Tim Hecker is going to make it a lot worse.

Heckers music is hard to describe in words because it's a very emotional listen. To me it's like a midnight blizzard: cold, howling and swirling, dreadful, introspective, and ultimately beautiful. It's hard to choose which tracks to recommend since each of his albums have different moods and should be listened to in their entirety.

The first track is from the album Ravedeath 1972. A majority of the album was written with pipe organ in an Icelandic cathedral, so everything sounds distant, old, and suffocating. The track starts off abrasive and grainy, but then a melody starts to form, and then pulsates in this breathtaking track.

The next track is from the follow up album Virgins. Virgins, is a lot more in your face. Louder tracks that are very jarring, surreal, and absolutely depressing. The track black refraction is one of the quietest and loneliest spots on the album so its easy to recommend I could go on and on about how I love the piano loop that gets distorted, the haunting noises in the far corners... But instead you'll just have to listen for yourself and check out the rest of his work.

Legendary broadcaster John Peel had some stellar acts on his shows in his time, including some favourites from warp records. He got the usually mysterious Boards Of Canada on the show, and here's a track they didn't feature on the resulting EP, apparently due to a sample clearing issue which is a shame because it's a fine addition to the BoC backcatalogue. According to them it was the longest and fastest track they'd done since around 1997 or so, have a listen and enjoy.

Another firm favourite band of mine Broadcast actually had several Peel Sessions but never released any recordings of them. The original version of their cover of Nico's Sixty Forty would debut on one of these shows before appearing officially on the Warp20 (Unheard) compilation. Here's a little bootleg recording from their 1996 session with an unreleased gem, Forget Every Time.

Monday, 11 November 2013

My first post, and I chose some chill indie jam from Oregan based artist(s?), Gingerbread Patriots. Information varies on members, with John Brophy being the only name that appears as a listed band member.A majority of the sounds for this tune came from an iPhone, the bass and vocals were recorded elsewhere. I have no idea how people create these kinds of lo-fi beats and make them fit into a chorus of other things, but in this case, it works. A simple tune with some great vocal work, and according to the bands Facebook page, the song is based on monsters and tinnitus.

"I used to not be able to sleep when i was a small bebeh ...cause i could hear my heartbeat in my ear on my pillow. i just found out thanks to google dot com (amazing site where you can find anything!) that it was probably pulsatile tinnitus. i used to think that the sound was tha monstahs marching through the sandy desert and beaches to get me. thankfully they musta had a long way to go cuz they never arrived to my bed/their dinner table (sic)"

Sunday, 10 November 2013

Trust that when we're busy getting the site stable and a new crew in that funkateers Chromeo drop info on a new album and a couple single dealies. Last thing I'd seen of them before this was their collabs with Daryl Hall of Hall & Oates fame. Not really feeling the cover art for this one personally, but whatever let's check it out!

So how does the new stuff sound? quite nice actually, starting with their latest addition Sexy Socialite; a little departure from their usual repertoire, and is probably the fastest track I've ever heard from them. Loving the breakdowns on this one.

And the other half, something a little more conventional from the duo as you can probably tell from that opening bassline. Unfortunately it seems they're catching the wave of uninspired "sounds like Daft Punk" comments that comes with doing anything remotely funk these days. Regardless these two are definitely worth your time, as well as their last three albums if you've missed them!

And of course, Miss Kittin's new album is fantastic. She's totally embraced the vibe changes that she usually has on her albums and made a massive double album, one side dancefloor, the other side more ambient. I was gonna embed a couple from her soundcloud, but they're disabled! Instead enjoy the video for one of the singles, Bassline.

Saturday, 9 November 2013

Hi, Today I want you all to meet a wonderful talented russian artist Mirabella Kiryanova, also known as Ishome. She's a fresh bright star in electronic music sky, and is often related to Mount Kimbie, Flying Lotus and many other music grands. Being very young she has already achieved a lot - been added to "10 Top Young Producers" list on one of the biggest web-zines in Russia "Look At Me", released her own EP, played in many festivals and became famous of her brilliant magic live shows.

I discovered her music a couple of months ago. I'm still being amazed every time I hit play button.
I'd say, Ishome is a sign of rapidly growing russian electronic music scene. She forced me to explore russian underground music more, and then I realised how many great producers this country actually has. You ever heard of Pixelord, Ol or Lapti ? Go and listen to them. Each has some quality tunes to offer.

Now I want you to hear last Ishome's album "Confession" released on Fuselab (This label has many more amazing producers, hit the link and check them out).
Album is absolutely brilliant. Sound is full of dreamy ambient melodies, broken beats, collages made up of manipulated vocals and atmospheric lullabies, buried under melancholic bass and iridescent synths.

Tuesday, 5 November 2013

Australian dance punk artists Cut Copy just released a new album and it is very much worth your time. With this new album you could assume the guys listened to a lot of acid house and dropped quite a bit of it too. The new album Free Your Mind is a great throwback to the days of P.L.U.R. The hedonism of modern edm is nowhere to be found, only positive vibes and uplifting grooves.

Yes the cover art is absolutely hideous, but it represents the bright sounds and colors found throughout the album. The album can get incredibly cheesy sometimes, but you just have to let go and "Free your mind"

It's the 5th of November, which means over in the UK we all get together and make some stonking great fires and let off a few fireworks in celebration of some bloke named Guy Fawkes failing to blow up parliament in 1605. Which is just a little bit ironic.

It's a good time, especially if you can stand stinking of smoke for the next couple days. Now I could list some tunes about fireworks or whatever, but instead here's some house stuff I'm enjoying right now, starting off with a slow building number from Simian Mobile Disco.

Thins take a more downtempo turn here, featuring some lovely synth work throughout and even some Knife/Fever Ray style vocal contributions toward the end it's a great showcase of Rex's production, check it out in prep for his new releases!

New addition to the writing team Earl has a few tricks of his own, I dug out his Selectizm. comp for another listen not too long ago and fell in love all over again, He kills it in both the house and hip hop department. This track is no different, the breakdown with the cheeky Blade Runner sample is an early highlight.

And finally, an often overlooked remix from Daft Club. The album gets a lot of flak but I dig the most of the tracks on it, and it features a pre-Get Lucky collab between the Punk and Pharrell! Here's the seven minute rework of Face To Face from Demon.

Sunday, 3 November 2013

I am Beatrice. I love music as much as I love breathing. I am extremely happy and excited to take part in this blog. Despite my busy routine, I will try to find time and share with you as much wonderful music as possible.

What is a contemporary music lover like?
He listens to everything in small doses and can tell a lot about any genre if you ask to. He’s up to date with newest releases but also loves exploring goods from past decades. No music is too old for him. He doesn’t judge any genre or style. He is tolerant to everything but has his own opinion about each thing.

I’m interested in all music genres, but electronic music has always been the most joyful to explore and experiment with. It will be a pleasure to share my discoveries with you, today I came up with my Halloween mini set I dedicate to all minimal/dub techno lovers.

What to expect after pressing “play”?
Industrial waves will lead through the empty city streets, lonely alleys and abandoned warehouses, surrounded by dark night clouds. It’s not a typical Halloween night, it’s that very time, when all costumes are put back in the closet and the night celebrates its domination in an empty city.

Saturday, 2 November 2013

Hey y'all, i believe now would be a good time as ever to introduce myself as a writer for our beloved blog. My name is Evan but you guys can call me Earl, i've been an avid follower of this blog for a long time and I've even been lucky enough to have some of my own music featured on here from time to time(don't worry I wont be self promoting)

And for my very first share on this here website i will be leaving you all with a beautiful track by Kartell entitled "Minimum Move" Its a super sexy house jam that will have you dancing in public with your earphones in,This is definitely one of my favorite tracks as of late and I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

Friday, 1 November 2013

Thought I'd drop another quick selection on you for the weekend, starting things off right with a bit of Vitalic, a bonus track from the expanded version of his debut OK Cowboy stay tuned to this one when it gets all intense around 1:38.

Followed by a slice of DJ Mehdi that I rediscovered recently, Lucky Boy if chock full of brilliant little touches and it's a real shame we lost Mehdi before he could drop a second LP on us. A great talent that is sorely missed.

A cult remix now from Trentemøller that seems to be everyone's favourite. I prefer the Thin White Duke mix myself, but that's not to say that Trentemøller's contributions should go unnoticed. Check this one out if it slipped under your radar!